Pop Warner Little Scholars (PWLS) and leading coaching education provider American Sport Education Program(ASEP) have partnered to design and implement an online training and certification program for Pop Warner’s football and cheer coaches beginning with the 2011 season.

Through the collaboration, ASEP designed customized online coaching youth football and cheerleading courses specifically for PWLS. The courses, entitled Coaching Youth Football: The Pop Warner Way and Coaching Youth Cheerleading and Dance: The Pop Warner Way are available through the dedicated Web site www.PopWarnerCoaching.comwhich launched August 4. PWLS is establishing a leadership role in youth football by recommending/requiring its coaches to successfully complete the course for the sport they coach.

“The Pop Warner program strives to instill the highest levels of sportsmanship, scholarship and safe play in our young athletes across the country,” said Jon Butler, Executive Director of Pop Warner Little Scholars. “Our partnership with ASEP will provide an unparalleled and comprehensive coaching education experience for our football, cheer and dance coaches. The Pop Warner mission begins with our coaches, so it is imperative that each coach is educated and trained to the highest standards.”

“We’re delighted to be helping Pop Warner Little Scholars provide a quality coaching education program for its football and cheer coaches,” says Jim Schmutz, ASEP executive director. “The influence of a coach—especially at the youth levels—cannot be underestimated. To have the opportunity to help PWLS coaches provide a safe and positive sport experience for its millions of young athletes and a more fulfilling and enjoyable experience for themselves fulfills our mission at ASEP.”

Pop Warner Little Scholars coaches can visit www.PopWarnerCoaching.com to register for the course. The course price is $19.95, which includes one-year access to the online course and its electronic resources (downloadable PDFs of drills, practice plans, safety checklists, evaluations, and more), test scoring and reporting, and a certificate of completion that’s valid for three years.

About Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Langhorne, PA, Pop Warner Little Scholars is the world’s largest youth football, cheerleading and dance organization and the only youth sports organization that mandates academic proficiency as a prerequisite for participation. Currently over 400,000 youth participate in Pop Warner programs in 43 states, Scotland, Germany, Russia, Japan and Mexico. The NFLPA estimates that 70% of all current NFL Players began their careers in Pop Warner. For more information on Pop Warner please visit www.popwarner.com, join our Pop Warner Facebook Fan Page and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Pop_Warner.

About ASEPThe American Sport Education Program is the leading provider of youth, high school, and elite-level sport education programs in the United States. Through its high-quality programs, ASEP has educated more than one million coaches, officials, administrators, parents, and athletes. ASEP’s motto is “Athletes first, winning second,” and for 30 years local state and national sport organizations have embraced this philosophy and partnered with ASEP to make sport a safe, successful and enjoyable experience for all involved.